1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer I/O for personal computers.
2. State of the Art
Personal computing is presently in a state of flux as personal computers having computing power rivaling the mainframe computers of not many years ago become widely available at affordable prices. Available computing power has passed the threshold required for many computationally intensive tasks, making possible multimedia, or media-rich, computing without the need for expensive hardware. Because of strong consumer demand, opportunities for computer hardware and software companies have seldom seemed brighter, and personal computing appears to have nearly taken on the status of a national obsession.
The usefulness of personal computers, however, depends on the ability to connect to the computer varied peripheral devices including keyboard, mouse, display, printer, scanner, disk drive, modem, speakers, a microphone, etc. A typical computer is provided with specific connectors for many of these devices as well as general-purpose connectors that may serve any of a wide variety of devices. Despite the desirability of such expansion capabilities, the result is often a maze of cables and a crowded, visually distracting work area. To avoid this situation, computer makers are continually exercising trade-offs between what to include internal to the computer and what to provide external connections for. Still, as the breathtaking pace of innovation in personal computers continues, considerable difficulty remains in providing connections to the computer in order to achieve an attractive trade-off between functionality on the one hand and simplicity on the other.
Of course, many peripheral devices may be installed as internal devices within the housing of the computer. For the average computer user, however, installing such a peripheral device oneself is not a serious consideration. Having it installed is a nuisance. The average user would much prefer a "plug-and-play" solution that minimizes cable clutter and desktop sprawl.